Diabetes Rates on the Rise - Is It an Age Thing?

06/21/06 Clinical Trials, Prevention, Disease Basics, General

Today there are news stories all over talking about how the rate of diabetes has doubled in the last 30 years. The important part of the article is the word ‘rate.’ If you look at the odds of someone developing diabetes, the odds are twice as high now as they were in the mid 70s. The study also found that the increased risk of developing diabetes could not completely be blamed on diet, weight gain, or other lifestyle issues.

I would like to see if they adjusted for age. As you get older, the odds of developing type 2 diabetes increases.

Click on these stories to read more:

Web MD

MS NBC

The Type 1 Diabetes Vaccine Study

Since 2003, two Boston institutions, the Children’s Hospital, and the Joslin Diabetes Center have been testing a possible vaccine for type 1 diabetes. This is encouraging news for future generations of children. However, it does not offer much to people currently living with type 1 diabetes.

A team of researchers led by Prof. Irun Cohen of the Weizmann Institute of Science Immunology Department identified the molecular mechanism of a vaccine for type 1 diabetes. The peptide (parts of a protein) designated p277 – is able to shut down the autoimmune response that causes type 1 diabetes.

“When translating these findings into a practical vaccine, we knew enough about the mechanism to understand that this protein is able to cause a decrease in the immune response, but how it actually works eluded us,” says Cohen.

Now they have uncovered that mystery. In a paper published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, the scientists have managed to identify the exact immune cells that p277 acts upon and its mechanism of action.

Autoimmune diseases occur when certain T cells in the immune system attack the body’s own cells and tissues. The scientists discovered that p277 directs the activity of the immune system in two ways. First, the p277 peptide steps up the activities of a different type of T cell that regulates the amount of potentially harmful T cells available. In addition, T cells treated with p277 cause the delinquent T cells to secrete anti-inflammatory substances instead of the inflammation-causing ones that they usually make which lead to autoimmune disease. This double action of the peptide weakens the damaging activities of the immune response further. The scientists also showed that in order to activate this response, p277 must be bound to the receptor TLR-2, which is found on the cell walls of the regulatory T cells.

“These findings are important, as it means that by identifying the molecular activity of p277 with such precision, we can copy nature’s own system in regulating the immune system and therefore, help to boost the immune system in preventing the destruction of insulin-producing pancreatic cells,” says Cohen.

An important question here is can this research be bridged over into the adult diabetic world and help people who are pre-diabetic?